Meese ‘Made a Difference’

After the Meese bashing that has taken place in the media, particularly The Times, it was good to see a positive column on the attorney general.

While McDowell’s column provides another look at Meese, it hardly balances the scales of editorial opinion. Clearly, law enforcement across this land is losing a forceful, tough, articulate supporter of common sense in the non-system of criminal justice. Like no other attorney general in history, Meese understands the police, understands crime and understands what needs to be done to provide “domestic tranquility” as promised in the Constitution.

For the past three years, I have been attending a series of meetings at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, studying community-oriented policing. The group is made up of practitioners, politicians and academics. Ideologically, it is very diverse. I would venture to say that there is no one in that group who does not have the highest regard for Meese as an intelligent, humble man of principle.

DARYL F. GATES

Chief of Police

Los Angeles